The stories of how America’s investment in medical research through the National Institutes of Health is making amazing things possible.

About United for Medical Research

There’s a scientific revolution taking place.

Our investments in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have helped wipe out diseases that killed our grandparents, and have led us to the brink of new discoveries that will free future generations from the diseases that we still suffer and fear.

The mapping of the human genome and advances in our understanding of the way life works have led us into an exciting new era of discovery, unique in scientific history.

Scientists now have the opportunity to beat back disease using new knowledge of biological structures and functions. They are no longer describing an illness’ symptoms, throwing everything they have at it, and watching to see what works.

Instead, in important areas, they are using the knowledge gained through more than 40 years of arduous study to zero in strategically on a disease, its triggers and crucial moments of development. Using discoveries and new technologies made in just the last decade, they can now understand the molecular drivers of disease and affect them.

And since the large majority of federal funding to the NIH goes directly to researchers at America’s major universities and private research institutions, NIH funding also creates jobs, spurs the growth of critical pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and in the long term, reduces health care costs thanks to healthier, longer life.

At this critical moment in our nation’s history, sustained investments in biosciences through the only federal agency specifically designed for this purpose — the NIH — makes more sense than ever.

The members of United for Medical Research - the nation’s leading scientific research institutions and industries, and health and patient advocates - come together to seek steady, long-term growth in the NIH budget.

The fruits of science are a necessity, not a luxury, as much in hard times as in good. And our scientific opportunities have never been greater.